1. Field of Invention
This invention is a new spatially oriented graphic color notation for music, designed to facilitate learning of musical instruments and conventional notation.
2. Background of the Invention
The basic format of our current notation system has existed for hundreds of years. In this format, the 7 notes of the C major scale alternate between the lines of a staff and the spaces in between. For instance, in the bass clef, C is in the space between the 2nd and 3rd line from the bottom, D is on the 3rd line from the bottom and E is in the space above the 3rd line. Since there are only 7 notes per octave, and the alternation between spaces and lines is continuous, C's alternate from octave to octave in terms of whether they are on a space or a line. The other 7 notes of the chromatic scale do not have a space allocated to them. Instead, they are represented as raisings (sharps) of the C major notes, or lowerings (flats) of the C major notes. These raisings and lowerings are indicated by the use of accidentals placed either next to the note or in a key signature at the left side of each staff.
The current music notation system presents many problems to the new student of musical instruments. Notes with the same name in the scale look different in every octave and in every clef. For example, G3 is represented by a note on the lowest line of the bass clef, G4 is a note between the top two lines of the clef and G5 is on the second line of the treble clef. Also, the relative duration of notes is expressed with a large number of symbols, all of which must be learned. Notes not in the diatonic scale of C major are represented by a combination of key signature and accidentals, which must be remembered and/or interpreted as the music is being read. Notes above and below the staff are depicted with extra ledger lines that require counting. Finally, the large number of different symbols involved makes the notation visually complex and confusing. These factors combine to make the learning of traditional music notation daunting to many students.
Many attempts have been made to solve this problem. H. Wright's U.S. Pat. No. 104,393 (1870) describes a staff consisting of 5 lines and 7 spaces per octave, the lines representing the black keys of the keyboard and the spaces representing the white keys. Notes in conventional notation form were placed on the lines for accidental (black key) notes, or in the spaces for the C major scale white keys. This eliminated the need for accidentals. However, once this staff was extended beyond a single octave it became difficult to read. This particular staff has been advocated by many other musicians over the years, and is sometimes referred to as a staff with keyboard spacing. Its primary attraction is that it retains the separation of the 7 “natural” notes of the C major scale from the “accidental” notes. At the same time it removes the need for accidentals. In addition, the notation looks the same for every octave, unlike traditional notation.
Another approach to improving conventional notation has been to assign different colors to each of the 7 notes of the diatonic scale or to each of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. U.S. Pat. No. 122,096 (F. W. Acee, 1871) assigns 7 colors to the notes of the diatonic scale for aid in sight singing. However, this approach does not eliminate the visual confusion produced by seeing the same note represented on a line in one clef and on a space in another. In addition, it still requires the student to memorize the different forms of notes and rests indicating durations.
Another form of simplified music notation is referred to as piano roll notation, or time-notation. The name comes from the resemblance to paper rolls for player pianos, where holes were cut in proportion to the length of the notes to be played. U.S. Pat. No. 347,686 (E. P. Carpenter & M. S. Wright, 1886) includes a form of this notation. The notes are displayed as rectangles whose height is proportional to the duration of the notes (this notation is read vertically). Today, various forms of this notation, generally read horizontally, are commonly used in computer programs to display and edit data from musical performances. The virtue of this form of notation is it allows for a more exact representation of rhythm than conventional notation. However, sight reading of music with this notation is very difficult, because the actual notes being sounded are not visually differentiated. To determine the note, you follow the space back to the accompanying diagram either of a keyboard or of note names.
The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,221,143 (B. M. Lang, 1940) uses both color and a proportional method of expressing the duration of notes. This invention assigns colors to all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. It also includes a very simple form of notation in which there is no staff or clef to be understood. In this form of notation, colored boxes are placed in a straight row horizontally across the page. Each box represents one quarter note. Longer notes are indicated by having several boxes in a row divided by a thin line, while all other boxes have a heavy line in between. While simple to read, this notation is very limited in application, since it does not include any way to notate more than one note sounding at a time.
The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,277 (D. P. Barra, 1972) adds color to a form of piano roll notation, using a different color for each theme in the music, as well as background color to indicate areas of different harmonic content. Varying shades of intensity are used to indicate the loudness and softness of notes. However, the bars representing notes are placed on a conventional staff requiring the reader to have previously memorized all the note locations of the treble and bass clefs, as well as the meaning of accidentals and key signatures.
In 1984, Arno Peters, the creator of the Peters Projection Map, presented his ideas for a new notation at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. This lecture was revised and published in 1985, in German and English, under the title “Peters Notation, The Proportionate Representation of the Duration of Notes as the Basis for Octave-Analogous Colour Notation”. Peters Notation uses vertical spacing exactly proportional to the spacing of the black and white keys on a piano and depicts each note as a rectangle whose width is proportional to its duration, as in piano roll notation. The music staff is shown as vertical bands of color. White is used for the spaces representing Cs and six different colors are used for each of the other notes of the C major scale. Slightly darker shades of the colors are used for the area above middle C, while the bands below middle C are paler. A grid of squares is placed over the entire staff, with darker lines optionally delineating beats and measures. C major scale notes are drawn as hollow rectangles, letting the color band show through, while the other 5 notes of the 12 tone chromatic scale are drawn as solid rectangles, in one of several dark colors, depending on whether the notation is keyboard, organ or instrumental.
While this notation is very easy to understand conceptually, it is not so easy to read. The advantage of using color to distinguish between notes of different pitches is that the eye is drawn to colors and recognizes them easily if they are sufficiently contrasting. So, reading a page of music from left to right, as colored notes are seen, the brain gets a message, green, and translates that as the note to be played. Then it sees the next note, red and translates that. This kind of translation can be made very rapidly. The effect of seeing a series of notes in color is very different from seeing notes drawn on bands of color. Since the music staff always looks the same from the point of view of color when the notes are drawn on bands of color, no active recognition of color occurs as the eye moves across the page.
FarbMusik (German for color music) is the name of another form of music notation that combines the use of color and proportional representation of duration. This notation is documented in “FarbMusik” by Fritz Dobretzberger and Johannes Paul, published by Simon+Leutner, 1993. The keyboard version of the notation is read vertically from the bottom to the top of the page. Other versions are read horizontally from left to right. The following references relate to the horizontal version of the notation which is more common in music notation.
FarbMusik divides the vertical space of an octave into twelve equal intervals and locates the middle of the lower edge of each note in a vertical position exactly relative to its place in the scale. Durations are proportionally represented as in piano roll notation. Each of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale is depicted in a different color, in the same order as the color wheel. FarbMusik distinguishes the 7 notes of the C major scale from the remaining 5 notes by using different shapes. The C major notes are rectangular. Each of the remaining 5 notes of the 12 tone chromatic scale has two different shapes, one for each enharmonic spelling. For example, the raised note C# has a note shape whose outer edges are at an equal height with the note C with an arch in the middle with the curve going up. The lowered note Db has a similar note shape, but with the outer edges at the height of the note D and the middle curving down. Both C# and Db are depicted in the same color. The fact that the same note has two different shapes and two slightly different vertical locations can be very confusing to students.
In FarbMusik each pitch does not have its own discrete vertical location in the notation space. Instead the notes representing adjacent pitches overlap to different extents depending on the type of music—single voice, keyboard music without chords, music with chords. For example, for single voice music, the vertical height of each note is the height of a whole octave. So, when a B is followed by a C, the B and C overlap for 11 twelfths of their height. The result of the overlapping is that the notation does not appear to have a clear vertical position for each pitch, but provides just a general sense of up and down.
A significant problem in this notation occurs in the use of color. As stated above, each note in the scale is allocated a different color in the same order as they appear on the color wheel. However, the twelve colors are all in the series of values (lightness and darkness) commonly used in a color wheel. The disadvantage to this system is that colors close to each other in the color wheel are often difficult to distinguish. Take for example, the sequence orange, orange-red, and red. It is very easy to be uncertain as to whether an orange-red is orange, orange-red or red, depending on what other colors are present near to it.
The combination of the different shapes and positions for the same note, the overlapping of notes, and the closeness of adjacent colors makes it easy to make mistakes when reading this music. Also, the sense of uncertainty and confusion that can occur when a student is unclear about what note to play is very discouraging to students.
Each of the approaches above simplifies one or more aspects of learning music notation, but still presents the student with significant difficulties.